Essendon H&A 2015

[Southstorm]

What concerns me most about Hird is that he's making a whole lot of excuses...

"I think history will tell you that if you play seven players or more under 50 games then your chances of winning are very low. You don't win many games and you're almost giving yourself no chance of winning with that many players under 50 games." - James Hird

The Saints just beat them by 110 points and had 8 players under 50 games...

Haha, fail.

Even if the saints had no players under 50 games, if you understand your odds of winning are low with so many inexperienced players, then play more experienced players?

I mean, giants stayed competitive against richmond, despite missing mumford, davis, patful and mohr... we were apparently manning buntine on riewoldt, he's like 7cm taller.

+1

Essendon cannot complain about experience with 2 Brownlow medalists in their line-up (one subbed out and the other having possibly the worst game of his career), a rising star (who literally carried the team), & a #1 draft pick (who was involved in all the same achievements as Nroo & Joey). Furthermore, if a lack of experience is the problem, why did Hird elected to play younger players over, say Paul Chapman, a 3 time premiership player.

The nail in the coffin is that our younger guys (with the exception of Kavanagh) were undoubtedly better than the supposed leaders of our team. McKernan, the Merrett brothers, O'brien and Gleeson all had much more of an impact on the game than Zaharakis, Stanton, Watson and Goddard.

If Stanton and Dempsey don't get dropped for next week, it shows Hird has no idea what the problem is and that's reason enough for him to go.

[silloc]

What is happening with the Dyson Heppell Football Club?  :P

They have a solid (some might say top 6) list, I think they need to fire Hird because Bomber Thompson was much better & under more pressure

The list is the problem in my opinion. Too many maybes and under-acheivers.

The problem is our top tier decided they wanted to be shower all of a sudden (apart from our flagship dyson heppetitis)

... who should we play next week?

[silloc]

What concerns me most about Hird is that he's making a whole lot of excuses...

"I think history will tell you that if you play seven players or more under 50 games then your chances of winning are very low. You don't win many games and you're almost giving yourself no chance of winning with that many players under 50 games." - James Hird

The Saints just beat them by 110 points and had 8 players under 50 games...

Haha, fail.

Even if the saints had no players under 50 games, if you understand your odds of winning are low with so many inexperienced players, then play more experienced players?

I mean, giants stayed competitive against richmond, despite missing mumford, davis, patful and mohr... we were apparently manning buntine on riewoldt, he's like 7cm taller.

+1

Essendon cannot complain about experience with 2 Brownlow medalists in their line-up (one subbed out and the other having possibly the worst game of his career), a rising star (who literally carried the team), & a #1 draft pick (who was involved in all the same achievements as Nroo & Joey). Furthermore, if a lack of experience is the problem, why did Hird elected to play younger players over, say Paul Chapman, a 3 time premiership player.

The nail in the coffin is that our younger guys (with the exception of Kavanagh) were undoubtedly better than the supposed leaders of our team. McKernan, the Merrett brothers, O'brien and Gleeson all had much more of an impact on the game than Zaharakis, Stanton, Watson and Goddard.

If Stanton and Dempsey don't get dropped for next week, it shows Hird has no idea what the problem is and that's reason enough for him to go.

To be honest I think Stantons season has been pretty good, and zaka you can't really fault coming back from injury. Actually you can't really look too deeply into the individual performances, because EVERYTHING went wrong. Play da frakin kids now jimmi boy

[Southstorm]

What is happening with the Dyson Heppell Football Club?  :P

They have a solid (some might say top 6) list, I think they need to fire Hird because Bomber Thompson was much better & under more pressure

The list is the problem in my opinion. Too many maybes and under-acheivers.

The problem is our top tier decided they wanted to be shower all of a sudden (apart from our flagship dyson heppetitis)

... who should we play next week?

Not Dempsey, not Stanton and not Kavanagh. We need to stop giving free games to blokes who don't earn them. We need to put a rocket up continually underperforming players who could and should be much better (Melksham, Myers and Zaharakis) and we certainly need to stop topping up our list with aging talent who play at the expense of our kids.

[powersuperkents]

Essendon are also suffering from a lack of talent in the rucks

If you want, I'm sure Port would be willing to give back Ryder for Daniher or Heppell  :P

[elephants]

We'll do ya Callum Sinclair for Hooker and Colyer :)

[silloc]

We'll do ya Callum Sinclair for Hooker and Colyer :)

Carlisle is on the table you'd think

[silloc]

What is happening with the Dyson Heppell Football Club?  :P

They have a solid (some might say top 6) list, I think they need to fire Hird because Bomber Thompson was much better & under more pressure

The list is the problem in my opinion. Too many maybes and under-acheivers.

The problem is our top tier decided they wanted to be shower all of a sudden (apart from our flagship dyson heppetitis)

... who should we play next week?

Not Dempsey, not Stanton and not Kavanagh. We need to stop giving free games to blokes who don't earn them. We need to put a rocket up continually underperforming players who could and should be much better (Melksham, Myers and Zaharakis) and we certainly need to stop topping up our list with aging talent who play at the expense of our kids.

Lay off Stanton, he has been good this year.

[elephants]

We'll do ya Callum Sinclair for Hooker and Colyer :)

Carlisle is on the table you'd think

Nah Freo can have him haha

[silloc]

I'm still keen to draft Ben Cavarra and Sam Baulderstone, don't think there is too much depth for kids this year anyway

[Cookie Monster]

Okay so, take this as you will and also i don't know if anyone has said anything of the sort but here's something for people.

March 31, 2015 2 days before the season starts, the AFL tribunal find the 'Essendon 34' not guilty and are cleared.

April 4, 2015 With a very limited pre-season, Essendon lose to Sydney by 12 points after being 40 points up. A loss but as everyone said, was due to the lack of pre-season.

April 12, 2015 Essendon fight back late to defeat Hawthorn, who AT THE TIME, were being said by experts to be unbeatable, have the perfect season, give them the premiership now.

Essendon then go on to beat Carlton and St.Kilda with a losses to Collingwood and Fremantle.

May 12, 2015 WADA decide to appeal the case.


The list is not as bad as it's playing, and the coaching staff is great.

Yes a few structural changes are needed with a new forward or something.

But this WADA investigation is finally doing to Essendon what everyone thought it would do to us 2 years ago.

[powersuperkents]

Okay so, take this as you will and also i don't know if anyone has said anything of the sort but here's something for people.

March 31, 2015 2 days before the season starts, the AFL tribunal find the 'Essendon 34' not guilty and are cleared.

April 4, 2015 With a very limited pre-season, Essendon lose to Sydney by 12 points after being 40 points up. A loss but as everyone said, was due to the lack of pre-season.

April 12, 2015 Essendon fight back late to defeat Hawthorn, who AT THE TIME, were being said by experts to be unbeatable, have the perfect season, give them the premiership now.

Essendon then go on to beat Carlton and St.Kilda with a losses to Collingwood and Fremantle.

May 12, 2015 WADA decide to appeal the case.


The list is not as bad as it's playing, and the coaching staff is great.

Yes a few structural changes are needed with a new forward or something.

But this WADA investigation is finally doing to Essendon what everyone thought it would do to us 2 years ago.

But to be fair, Essendon had a close game with a Carlton side which was, at the time, a cakewalk. Hawthorn had a poor start to the season, failing to notch consecutive wins until round 10. Finally, St Kilda were a relatively weak side at the beginning of the season with only one win against the Gold Coast. Yes Essendon won by 2 points, however they were literally gifted the game by Adam Schneider. Like Port & Nth Melbourne, these problems have been recurring since the outset (with all three teams experiencing inconsistency dating back to 2013 - Essendon & North for even longer) of the 2015 season. This inconsistency has gotten worse for the three teams as other teams with inferior lists are willing to play well rather than rely on the hype surrounding their players and actually win.

It's easy to single out Essendon, but as a Port supporter, I have to say that North Melbourne and my beloved side are in the same ballpark. Maybe these lists and coaching staff are just not good enough to actually finish in the top 4 because if I had to identify the most significant difference between our 3 -Port, Essendon, & North Melbourne- and the power 3 -Freo, Sydney, & Hawthorn (even Geelong in the past and Collingwood's inferior playing list at the moment)- is consistency. These teams beat the sides they should be beating. I mean look at Richmond, I would have expected their core talent to take out a top 4 place by now, they suffer from inconsistency, however it is no where near as ridiculous as the Power, Bombers, & the Kangas.

All 3 teams should be identifying ways in which the sides can go from form teams (something West Coast was smart to avoid) to stable performers (this is why it is literally an upset when Freo, Hawthorn, or Sydney lose a game they shouldn't. People shrug off North Melbourne and Essendon shock losses as just being a laugh). Can't see any of the 3 teams winning anytime soon, and it's a shame because they all have lists capable of challenging for the premiership. I admit WADA exacerbates Essendon disadvantage though

[kilbluff1985]

this is a good point someone made

look at ex Essendon players that are included in the 34 but at different clubs

Crameri
Ryder
Monfries


all in bad form

[Jukes]

this is a good point someone made

look at ex Essendon players that are included in the 34 but at different clubs

Crameri
Ryder
Monfries


all in bad form

don't remind me, I have him in worlds and americas :'(

[Ziplock]

looks like peptides have some poor long term effects